Windows 7: Does graphics performance affect boot times?

When I first loaded Windows 7 my system booted (measured from the end of BIOS detections to the appearance of the desktop) in 30 to 35 seconds. I had a problem with my GTX260 graphics adapter that I had installed at that time and have sent it back RMA. I am now running a GeForce 9500GT card temporarily. Now my boot time is 55 seconds. Does the performance of the video card affect the boot time that much?

BTW: Is 55 seconds in the "normal" range?

55 seconds is normal, for vista and 7 OS because the UI is controlled by the graphic card not the cpu IMO I think it would have but not much, use this program to clean out your system and see how it goes: Latest CCleaner Version Released

The "performance" - that is, the horsepower of the card should have little to do with boot times. The differences are more likely due to driver characteristics while loading.

Did you thoroughly uninstall the 260 drivers before installing the 9500GT? If both drivers are still loading at boot, that would add to the time too.

Oh yeah! I uninstalled everything nVidia beforehand, checked that the adapter was removed from device manager. The only hitch was that when you re-boot into windows the OS loads it's own WDDM1.1 driver when installing the card so that it is recognized - then you can install the nVidia drivers. Other than that it should have been a "clean" install.

Don't the 9x series and the 200's use the same driver? 195.62

The 9x and 200's use the same drivers here is a list off the supported producs for the 195.62.

GeForce 200 series:
GT 220, GTX 260, GT 230, GTX 275, G210, GTX 280, 210, GTS 250, GTX 295, GTX 285, GT 240, GTS 240, 205

GeForce 100 series:
GT 140, G 100, GT 130, GT 120

GeForce 9 series:
9200, 9600 GT, 9500 GS, 9800 GTX/GTX+, 9400 GT, 9300, 9300 GE, 9400, 9600 GS, 9500 GT, 9800 GX2, 9600 GSO, 9800 GT, 9300 GS

GeForce 8 series:
8600 GS, 8600 GTS, 8400 GS, 8200, 8800 GTS 512, 8300 GS, 8400, 8100 / nForce 720a, 8800 GTX, 8800 GS, 8600 GT, 8300, 8800 GT, 8500 GT, 8800 GTS, 8800 Ultra, 8400 SE

GeForce 7 series:
7050 / NVIDIA nForce 610i, 7900 GT/GTO, 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a, 7150 / NVIDIA nForce 630i, 7600 GS, 7800 GS, 7300 GS, 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i, 7900 GTX, 7350 LE, 7100 GS, 7900 GS, 7300 LE, 7950 GT, 7800 SLI, 7500 LE, 7800 GTX, 7550 LE, 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 630i, 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 620i, 7950 GX2, 7300 SE / 7200 GS, 7300 GT, 7600 LE, 7600 GT, 7050 PV / NVIDIA nForce 630a, 7650 GS

GeForce 6 series:
6250, 6600 GT, 6600 LE, 6800 XE, 6200 A-LE, 6800 GT, 6800 GS/XT, 6200, 6600 VE, 6800 Ultra, 6200 TurboCache, 6150, 6800 GS, 6150SE nForce 430, 6150 LE, 6610 XL, 6100 nForce 405, 6800 LE, 6800 XT, 6100, 6100 nForce 400, 6150LE / Quadro NVS 210S, 6800, 6700 XL, 6200SE TurboCache, 6100 nForce 420, 6200 LE, 6600, 6500

ION series:
ION LE, ION